13 August 2011

Latest Amazon Move Fuels Industry Discussion

What do Amazon, Diapers, Soap and Wag have in Common?

In 2005, best friends Marc Lore and Vinit Bharara started Quidsi, Inc. and a first portal Diapers.com with a simple goal – to make life easier for new parents. Since then, more than a million customers have shopped the site for its wide selection of diapers, formula, car seats, strollers, clothing, cribs, toys and more.

Serving moms and dads was one thing, but making life easier for the rest of the family was the next big step. So in the summer of 2010, Marc and Vinit announced the launch of Soap.com. With 25,000 products, Soap.com set out to deliver one-stop shopping for everyday essentials, including a great selection of health, beauty and household products.

The success they achieved brought them to the attention of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) who in November of 2010 reached an agreement to acquire Quidsi, Inc.  The three executives involved in the transaction enthused about the deal as follows:

"I'm not sure which is more unpleasant-changing diapers, paying too much for them, or running out of them," said Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon.com. "This acquisition brings together two companies who are committed to providing great prices and fast delivery to parents, making one of the chores of being a parent a little easier and less expensive."

"Amazon shares our commitment to the customer," said Marc Lore, Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Quidsi. "We are excited to be part of a company that will help us to serve an even larger audience, and we will continue delivering unexpectedly great service that makes life a little easier - that is our mission."


"Amazon is a pioneer," said Vinit Bharara, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Quidsi. "Amazon is built on a culture of innovation and long-term vision. Quidsi is driven by these same core values, and we look forward to joining forces."

Under the terms of the agreement, which was approved by Quidsi's stockholders, Amazon acquired all of the outstanding shares of Quidsi for approximately $500 million in cash and assumed approximately $45 million in debt and similar obligations.

That's how Amazon, Diapers and Soap became associated.  Since then Quidsi launched BeautyBar.com, a prestige beauty boutique and in July they launched pet specialty site Wag.com. From food and treats to toys and pampering must-haves, Wag.com delivers everything you need for your pet, with the same speed and service our customers have come to expect.

See an analyst's comments

Amazon, Diapers, Soap and Wag, together leverage the huge logistics capability of Amazon to offer something for every member of the family with prepaid delivery and the best prices online.



About Amazon.com:
Amazon.com, Inc., a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon's developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle, Kindle 3G and Kindle DX are the revolutionary portable readers that wirelessly download books, magazines, newspapers, blogs and personal documents to a crisp, high-resolution electronic ink display that looks and reads like real paper. Kindle 3G and Kindle DX utilize the same 3G wireless technology as advanced cell phones, so users never need to hunt for a Wi-Fi hotspot. Kindle is the #1 bestselling product across the millions of items sold on Amazon.

About Diapers.com:
Diapers.com is the largest online baby care specialty site in the United States, offering everything from diapers, wipes, and formula to shampoo, cribs, car seats, clothing, and more. Diapers.com makes life easier for moms and dads by delivering the products they need in 1-2 days. Parents never have to drive to the store or wait in line again for their everyday baby care needs. Thanks to an ever-expanding brigade of more than a million happy moms and dads, Diapers.com is the country's fastest growing e-commerce destination. For more information, go to Diapers.com.

About Soap.com:
With 25,000 products and over 900 brands, Soap.com promises to deliver one-stop shopping for everyday essentials – everything from paper towels and laundry detergent to toothpaste, vitamins, makeup and shampoo – all shipped for free and overnight to most of the country. Customers can shop Soap.com, Wag.com, Diapers.com and BeautyBar.com together with one shared shopping cart and one easy checkout. Soap.com makes life easier for everyone by delivering essential products without the time and hassle of shopping at a physical store. For more information, visit Soap.com.

About Quidsi Inc:
Quidsi is the fastest growing e-commerce company in the country and parent of Diapers.com (baby care), Soap.com (health, beauty and household essentials), BeautyBar.com (prestige beauty), and Wag.com (pet care). The company's mission is to make life easier by creating a new type of e-commerce experience, delivering items free and fast (within 1-2 days) while also providing extraordinary customer service. Quidsi is redefining e-commerce by combining the focus and customer connection of a specialty store with the scale, efficiency, choice, value, and reliability of a national retailer.

Have a look at Wag.com

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